DIOGENES: In Search Of An Honest Politician!

DIOGENES invites you to pull up a chair on this rainy day and read
posts from around the world.
The writing may lean to the right...but that's the way Diogenes wants it!
You may leave your opinion,
but Diogenes rarely changes his! WELCOME!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

If it could happen to Nixon, it could happen to Obama! (IMPEACHMENT)

Barack Obama’s approval ratings are finally higher than Richard Nixon’s. But
this is only because forty years ago Nixon was in the midst of a dramatic
collapse in public support from which he would not recover.

Obama’s Gallup approval rating is holding just under 50%. It does not yet
show signs of damage from the trifecta of scandals (the IRS targeting
conservative groups, the Justice Department targeting the press, and the
Benghazi leadership failure and cover-up) plaguing the administration. Forty
years ago Nixon’s approval was five points lower, but this was a record low for
the well-liked 37th president. ...

In June 1973, the Watergate hearings were just getting going. It was before
“I’m not a crook,” the Nixon tapes, the 18 and a half minute gap, the Saturday
Night Massacre, and still 14 months before Nixon’s resignation. Today people
think that these events typified Nixon’s term in office, and that he had always
been disliked. But Nixon’s fall was stunning because he was a wildly popular
president with a solid list of domestic and international policy achievements.
If it could happen to him, it could happen to a much weaker president. Like the
one we have in office right now.

Tea party witness chokes up: 'I'm not begging my lords for mercy. I'm a born free American woman'!

A tea party witness from Alabama launched into emotional testimony Tuesday as
she described her group’s political abuse at the hands of the Internal Revenue
Service.

“We peacefully assemble. We petition our government. We exercise the right to
free speech. And we don’t understand why the government tried to stop us,”
Wetumpka Tea Party President Becky Gerritson said during her opening statement
before the House Ways and Means Committee.

“I’m not here at as a serf or a vassal,” she went on, beginning to choke up.
“I’m not begging my lords for mercy. I’m a born-free American woman, wife,
mother and citizen.”

Crowd Erupts in Thunderous Applause When Leno Says Obama Should Close IRS Instead of Gitmo

Media members thinking the Republicans are overplaying their hand with the
Internal Revenue Service scandal should pay attention to what happened on NBC’s
Tonight Show Monday.
When host Jay Leno joked that President Obama should close the IRS rather
than the terrorist detention center in Guantanamo Bay, the audience erupted in
thunderous applause (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for
additional commentary):
JAY LENO: President Obama says he’s renewing his efforts to close Guantanamo
Bay. Guantanamo Bay? How about closing the IRS? Why don’t we do that?
[Thunderous applause]
How about shipping the IRS to Guantanamo Bay? That’s what we, yes! That’s how
you do it.
[Thunderous applause]
Well, more problems with the IRS. A new report has found that they spent $50
million on employee conferences and retreats in just two years. They would have
investigated sooner, but it turns out, you know, they don’t belong to any
conservative groups. So nobody really noticed. They didn’t really see it. A
little odd, yeah.

Video: Tea Party activist describes IRS intimidation tactics

by Ed Morrissey

Meet Karen Kenney, the first in what will undoubtedly be a parade of victims of the intimidation tactics of the IRS aimed at conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. Twitchy captures Kenney’s statement and the immediate Twitter reaction to it. With President Obama attempting to pre-empt the hearing with an odd live statement on judicial nominations — usually a matter left to press releases — coverage of the hearing has been spotty, but this needs to be seen and read in full:

Just how intimidating was this effort? Sixteen months after applying, SFVP finally heard from the IRS on its application, with a deadline cast in ominous tones:

In October 2010, the San Fernando Valley Patriots, a not-for-profit corporation in California, applied with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for 501(c) 4 status as a tax-exemptsocial welfare organization. We were then and remain a “tea party” group affiliated with the national Tea Party Patriots.
We heard nothing until February 2012 when I received a packet from the IRS Exempt Organizations Office in Cincinnati, OH, which included a questionnaire with 35 items divided into 80 subpoints of inquiry.A cover letter indicated we had 20 days to comply without penalty including “penalties of perjury” for failure to answer all questions with facts that are “true, correct, and complete.”
Generally, the questions were a demand that read like the chilling words from the 1950s: “Are you now or have you ever been…”

Kenney says her personal favorite among the raft of questions was #33, which demanded that the applicants incriminate themselves:

My personal favorite was question No. 33, which in relation to protests asked for a listing of our “committed violations of local ordinances, breaches of public order or arrests” then requesteddetails on how we “conduct or promote” illegal activities.
I think the IRS needs to fix its labeling machine: We’re the San Fernando Valley Patriots, not Occupy Oakland.

We’re going to be hearing from plenty of victims, and Obama can’t call a press conference every day to suck away the coverage.

Dem to IRS victims: ‘I get the feeling many of you…believe you should be free from any scrutiny at all’

A few sparks have flown in today’s IRS targeting hearing, in which the victims of the agency’s inappropriate and perhaps illegal activities are testifying.
Not all the members of the House Ways and Means Committee seem terribly sympathetic — in fact, based on Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s factually challenged statements in yesterday’s IRS hearing, it seems some Democrats believe a more vigorous defense of the IRS is necessary.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., went on a bit of a rant earlier against the victims of IRS targeting who are testifying in today’s hearing. He was not the only Democrat to defend the IRS’s behavior.
The NRCC quickly put up a very short clip of McDermott telling them they want taxpayers to “subsidize” them, which is below. I’ll try to to obtain a more complete version, along with some of the other Democrats who attempted to justify the targeting of conservative groups today, as soon as I can.

After this, one of the panel witnesses pointed out that in fact, 501 c(4) groups, unlike 501 c(3)s, are not subsidized by the taxpayer. The “benefit” they receive is that they can incorporate and their members’ money doesn’t get taxed a second time when it’s donated and pooled for advocacy purposes.

IRS exempts terror front group over tea party ( CAIR )

At the same time the Internal Revenue Service delayed or denied requests for
tax-exempt status from hundreds of conservative non-profit groups, it was
quietly restoring the tax-exempt status of an Islamist front group accused of
collaborating with terrorists.

Last year, the politicized agency reinstated the Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations’ tax-exempt status despite years of delinquent tax
filings. CAIR officials had met with officials inside the White House before the
decision was made.
Though Democrat-connected CAIR did not officially endorse Obama, many of its
staffers helped turn out the Muslim vote for his re-election. CAIR boasted that
its own polling showed more than 85 percent of Muslim-Americans voted for Obama.
In 2011, the IRS stripped the group’s national office of its nonprofit status
for failure to file annual tax reports as required by federal law.
The moved followed requests by then-Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., and other
congressional leaders asking the IRS to investigate after the 2009 bestseller
“Muslim Mafia” called attention to CAIR’s missing IRS filings and foreign
donations.
During the years CAIR failed to disclose its donors to the government, it
solicited funds from Libya, Sudan and other terror-sponsoring foreign
governments, according to “Muslim Mafia.” CAIR is not registered as a foreign
agent.
CAIR repeatedly failed to file its annual disclosure report, IRS Form 990.
CAIR blames a clerical error for the delinquency and claims to have completed
the forms. However, several news organizations, including Politico.com and
Gannett Co., have asked CAIR for the 2007-2010 documents, and CAIR has not been
able to produce them.

Prancercise

The saddest, albeit possibly most accurate short message you will read

The American Dream ended (on November 6th) in Ohio . The second term of
Barack Obama will be the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white
Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the
greatest Republic in the history of mankind.

A coalition of Blacks, Latinos, Feminists, Gays, Government Workers, Union
Members, Environmental Extremists, The Media, Hollywood , uninformed young
people, the "forever needy," the chronically unemployed, illegal aliens and
other "fellow travelers" have ended Norman Rockwell's America .
The Cocker Spaniel is off the front porch...the Pit Bull is in the back yard.
The American Constitution has been replaced with Saul Alinsky's "Rules for
Radicals" and Chicago shyster, David Axelrod, along with international Socialist
George Soros will be pulling the strings on their beige puppet to bring us Act 2
of the New World Order.
Our side ran two candidates who couldn't even win their own home states, and
the circus fatty Chris Christie helped Obama over the top with a glowing "post
Sandy " tribute that elevated the "Commander-in-Chief" to Mother Teresa status.
People like me are completely politically irrelevant, and I will never again
comment on or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has
surrendered our culture, our heritage and our traditions without a shot being
fired.
You will never again out vote these people. It will take individual acts of
defiance and massive displays of civil disobedience to get back the rights we
have allowed them to take away. It will take Zealots, not moderates--not
reach-across-the-aisle RINOs to right this ship and restore our beloved country
to its former status.
Those who come after us will have to risk their lives, their fortunes and
their sacred honor to bring back the Republic that this generation has timidly
frittered away due to "white guilt" and political correctness.....
I'm done.
"We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long
entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
~President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Why This Scandal Is Different

Sometimes when you’re writing part of a column you keep getting close to the
meaning of what you want to say but you don’t quite get there, the full
formulation of the idea eludes you. Then two days later, relaxing in
conversation with friends, the thought comes to you whole, and you think: That’s
what I meant to say. That’s what I was trying to get.
This week I had one of those moments. I kept trying, the paragraph kept not
quite working, the deadline came.
I got an email last night that had the effect of a clarifying conversation.
It was from a smart friend who works in government. He understood the point I
was trying to make about how the current IRS scandal is different from previous
ones and more threatening to the American...
--snip--
But my friend got to the essence. He wrote, “The left likes to say,
‘Watergate was worse!’ Watergate was bad—don’t get me wrong. But it was elites
using the machinery of government to spy on elites. . . . It’s something quite
different when elites use the machinery of government against ordinary people.
It’s a whole different ball game.”
It is.
That’s exactly what I meant.
In previous IRS scandals it was the powerful abusing the powerful—a White
House moving against prominent financial or journalistic figures who, because of
their own particular status or the machineries at their disposal, could pretty
much take care of themselves. A scandal erupts, there are headlines, and then
people go on their way. The dreadful thing about this scandal, what makes it
ominous, is that this is the elites versus regular citizens. It’s the mighty
versus normal people. It’s the all-powerful directors of the administrative
state training their eyes and moving on uppity and relatively undefended
Americans...

Power Couple of the year

A Country Founded by Geniuses,but Run by Idiots

1. If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license,but not
for being in the country illegally,… you might live in a country founded by
geniuses but run by idiots.
2. If you have to get your parents permission to go on a field trip or take
an aspirin in school,but not to get an abortion,… you might live in a country
founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
3. If you have to show identification to board an airplane,cash a check,buy
liquor,or check out a library book,but not to vote,… you might live in a country
founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
4. If the government wants to ban stable,law-abiding citizens from owning gun
magazines with more than ten rounds,but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy
new leaders in Egypt,you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by
idiots.
5. If,in our largest city,you can buy “two”16-ounce sodas,but not a 24-ounce
soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat,… you might live in
a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
6. If an 80-year-old woman and 3 yr old child can be stripped searched by the
TSA,but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head
searched,… you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
7. If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of
dollars of debt is to spend trillions more,… you might live in a country founded
by geniuses but run by idiots.
8. If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher
is cute,but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is
perfectly acceptable,… you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run
by idiots.
9. If children are forcibly removed from parents who discipline them with
spankings while children of addicts are left in filth and drug infested
homes…,you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
10. If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government
intrusion,while not working is rewarded with EBT cards,WIC
checks,Medicaid,subsidized housing,and free cell phones,… you might live in a
country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
11. If you pay your mortgage faithfully,denying yourself the newest big
screen TV while your neighbor buys iPhones,TVs and new cars,and the government
forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage,… you might live in a country
founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
12. If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more safe
according to the government,… you might live in a country founded by geniuses
but run by idiots.